Adding milk and sugar to your tea and coffee? You may want to think again.

It is an accepted part of your everyday routine – but your morning cuppa may have far more calories than you think.

An analysis of tea and coffee drinking habits based on a National Health and Nutrition Survey of more than 19,000 adults in the US found two-thirds of coffee drinkers and one-third of tea drinkers put sugar, cream and flavourings in their drinks – which adds up to extra calories.

Those who drink black coffee consume about 69 fewer calories per day than those who add sweeteners, milk or cream to their drink.

Worryingly, sugar accounts for 60 per cent of those calories, with fat making up the rest.

And the news is just as bad for tea drinkers.

Tea drinkers tend to add fewer calorie-dense substances to their tea if they add anything at all, the analysis found.

But compared to drinking plain tea, add-ins such as milk and sugar can pile 43 calories onto your daily intake each day.